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To: 16yearcycle who wrote (35299)	1/18/1999 2:48:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Respond to of 164684

This factor in itself does not make that much difference to Yahoo! and other portals because they get paid a tariff for every order sold either through ad revenues or profit share arrangements (that may develop). However, the assumption that seemed to prevail just months or weeks ago was that Yahoo! had such a lead over other portals that it was destined to remain well ahead of the pack of wolves. But what has revealed in their lattest quarter's figures and comments to analysts? - that their sales have grown much slower than the robust average - up only 16% over the previous quarter. And they dodged numerous questions about the pressure to reduce ad rates. The fact of the matter is that Internet users are clicking on a much lower percentage of ads than just a year ago and the follow-through sales per click have dropped as well. Lycos and other sites have quickly eaten into Yahoo!'s lead in "reach" such that it now stands at around 47% compared to Lycos' 42%. Lycos grew a lot by some skillfull acquisitions but their internal rate of growth out-paces that of Yahoo! by a significant margin. They predict that they will overtake Yahoo! either this quarter or next. The fact is that advertiser have an increasing choice of good portals to select from to place their ads - maybe more effectively or cheaply than at Yahoo! My how the Internut landscape has changed and the competition has not even all gotten lined up at the starting gate. It's very risky to bet on the first horse out on the field without even knowing who else will show up and how they will jockey into position.